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CHURCH 

FEUDALISM  IN  AMERICAN 

POLincs 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Feudalism 
In  American  Politics. 


An  Address  by 

SAMUEL  HARDEN  CHURCH 

before 

The  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania 

at  Carnegie  Music  Hall 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


Commencement,    June   20th,    1901, 


ADDRESS. 


Feudalism  in  American  Politics. 


BY 

SAMUEL  HARDEN  CHURCH. 


j 


i 

6 

i 


PITTSBURGH,  June  22,  1901. 

MY  DEAR  MR.   CHURCH:— 

Several  of  your  friends,  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of 
the  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  the  pleasure  of 
listening  to  your  admirable  address  delivered  on  the  evening  of  the 
20th  inst.  in  Carnegie  Music  Hall,  have  expressed  the  wish  that 
the  address  be  printed,  in  order  that  it  may  reach  a  wider  audi- 
ence than  that  before  which  it  was  originally  delivered.  I  am 
authorized  on  their  behalf  to  request  you  to  furnish  the  manu- 
script for  publication.  Trusting  that  you  may  see  your  way  clear 
to  comply  with  our  wishes,    1  am, 

Yours  very  truly, 

W.  J.  Holland. 


PITTSBURGH,  June  22,  1901. 

My  Dear  Dr.  Holland:— 

I  am  liighly  complimented  by  the  request  contained  in  your 
letter  of  this  date.  If  you  really  feel  that  the  publication  of  the 
address  will  serve  a  good  civic  purpose,  1  have  no  objection  what- 
ever to  havinti;  it  printed.      1  am. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

S.  H.  Church. 


;$v'4:j8.^> 


Acting  Chancellor  Brashear,  in  introducing  Mr.  Church,  said: 
"We  all  love  him  for  the  work  he  has  done.  His  great  '  Life  of 
Cromwell,'  his  beautiful  historical  novel,  'John  Marmaduke,' 
his  bu.sy  life  in  the  Pennsj'lvania  Railroad  service,  make  up  only  a 
part  of  his  useful  activities.  He  will  speak  to-night  on  '  Feudalism 
in  American  Politics,'  and  I  am  sure  we  shall  all  be  wiser  men  and 
women  after  listening  to  his  address." 


Feudalism  in  American  Politics. 


It  is  a  thing  pleasing  to  every  patriotic  man  that  the  young 
men  of  this  nation  are  displaying  an  increasing  activity  in  poli- 
tics. As  the  country  grows  richer  and  the  people  become  more 
settled  in  habits  and  customs,  a  larger  share  of  popular  attention 
is  naturally  given  to  public  affairs.  Colleges  and  universities, 
through  their  courses  of  study  in  the  political  and  social  sciences, 
are  forming  an  educated  public  opinion  in  men  trained  to  reason 
and  to  think;  and  the  participation  of  such  men  in  the  discussion 
of  present  day  problems  will  add  tremendously  to  their  right  so- 
lution. Under  the  general  subject,  "FeudaHsm  in  American 
Politics,"  certain  baneful  and  dangerous  tendencies  will  be  con- 
sidered, not  because  the  evil  situation  is  a  hopeless  one,  but  be- 
cause its  efficacious  remedy  can  be  so  easily  applied.  It  is  not 
intended  to  present  a  pessimistic  or  unwholesome  view  of  politic- 
al conditions  in  America.  On  the  contrary,  the  purpose  is  to 
arouse  in  capable  hearts  an  aspiration  for  the  destruction  of  pub- 
lic abuses  through  a  saving  sense  of  civic  obligation. 

Politics  is  government.  The  right  to  govern  in  America  is 
not  placed  in  one  man,  as  in  a  monarchy,  nor  in  a  few  men,  as  in 
an  oligarchy,  but  it  is  the  heritage  which  every  citizen  receives 
from  the  fathers.  The  fatal  neglect  of  that  heritage  invites  its 
decay.  Its  preservation  requires  that  every  American  should  be 
in  politics, — not  for  office,  for  that  is  the  last  thing  a  young  man 
should  seek, — but  to  guard  the  State.  While  some  progress  has 
been  made  in  establishing  a  civil  service  in  this  country,  there  is 
no  permanent  tenure,  and  no  assured  promotion  in  public  life. 
With  every  change  of  government,  thousands  of  experienced 
men  are  dismissed  without  due  cause,  only  to  find  themselves  un- 
fitted for  the  exacting  refjuirtiiu'nts  of  private  business  life.  In 
England  it  is  not  so.  Take  a  single  department  there — the  Col- 
onial office  of  Great  I'ritain.  There  are  twenty-four  clerks  in 
that  office, every  one  a  graduate  of  either  Oxford  or  Cambridge, 
with  a  degree  as  high  at  least  as  M.A.  These  men  are  retained  at 


j;'00(.l  salaries  until  suporannuatcd,  and  thoy  liandK'  and  direct  all 
the  potent  colonial  encrfjies  of  tliat  inij^hty  empire.  The  Col- 
onial Secretary  may  or  may  not  bo  an  able  statesman;  in  either 
case  he  knows  bnt  little  of  the  details  of  his  own  administration. 
In  England  when  a  young  man  aspires  to  a  public  career,  he 
is  graduated  from  the  university,  and  duly  enters  Parliament.  If 
he  displays  signal  ability  he  becomes  a  permanent  figure  in  po- 
litical life.  When  one  is  invited  to  dinner  to  meet  the  public 
servants  of  England,  he  knows  that  he  will  come  in  contact  with 
men  trained  to  great  aflfairs;  the  empire  can  offer  him  no  more 
stimulating  intercourse.  Here  it  is  dififerent.  Our  public  men 
rise  to  view  for  a  moment,  and  then  disappear.  We  have  no 
diplomatic  service,  and  the  great  embassies  and  missions  are  be- 
stowed as  the  spoils  of  victory,  frequently  on  men  who  are  over- 
weighted by  their  honors.  There  is  but  one  exception,  for  cus- 
tom now  demands  that  our  ambassador  to  Great  Britain  must  be 
the  most  eminent  available  man  in  this  Republic. 

The  greatest  evil  in  American  public  life  is  feudalism.  Feu- 
dalism in  the  modern  sense  is  the  exaction  by  irresponsible  po- 
litical dictators  of  immoral  obedience  from  public  servants  and 
others  who  fear  to  incur  their  displeasure.  This  institution 
has  grown  up  wholly  through  disregard  of  Washington's  pre- 
cedents in  the  beginning,  whereby  he  sought  to  establish  a  sound 
civil  service.  His  fundamental  idea  of  an  efficient  executive  force 
is  repeated  in  the  Farewell  Address,  through  that  solemn  adju- 
ration against  the  tendency  of  an  inflamed  party  spirit  to  substi- 
tute faction  for  nation. 

The  old  feudalism  was  introduced  into  England  by  William 
the  Conqueror,  who  brought  his  followers  to  seize  the  richest 
spoil  in  Europe.  These  knights  placed  their  hands  in  his  and 
swore  to  be  his  men,  in  return  for  the  promised  feud,  or  fee,  or 
fief,  meaning  the  spoil  of  victory.  And  so  came  military  service, 
socage,  lords  paramount,  vassals,  liegemen,  the  mighty  barons, 
special  privilege,  hereditary  aristocracy,  and  all  the  other  re- 
straints upon  the  natural  expansion  of  human  liberty,  which  pro- 
duced the  tyranny  of  absolute  kings.  This  false  system  grew 
until  the  conscience  and  the  intellect  of  Europe  revolted;  and 
then  Cromwell  overwhelmed  it  at  Marston  Moor  and  Naseby, 


and  when  it  flourished  anew,  Washington  crushed  it  at  York- 
town. 

And  now  feudaHsm  has  crept  into  American  poHtics. 
How  well  the  old  terms  fit  the  case! — lords  paramount,  mighty 
barons,  vassals,  socage,  special  privilege,  and  all  the  rest  of  it. 
In  theory,  our  present  methods  of  choosing  public  servants  furn- 
ish the  ideal  machinery  of  a  Republican  form  of  government. 
The  people  go  to  the  polls  a:  the  primary  elections  and  choose 
their  delegates,  and  the  delegates  meet  in  convention  and  after 
canvassing  the  comparative  merits  of  candidates  decide  upon 
their  nomination  by  ballot,  after  which  the  nominees  of  all  the 
parties  are  voted  upon  by  all  the  people,  and  the  one  having  the 
highest  number  of  votes  is  declared  elected  to  the  office.  Noth- 
ing could  be  better  than  this.  The  primary  election  is  supposed 
to  bring  out  the  wishes  of  the  whole  mass  of  each  party;  the  con- 
vention furnishes  a  stage  for  the  play  of  oratorical  power,  for 
combination,  and  for  the  exercise  of  the  highest  human  talents; 
and  the  final  nomination  is  the  result  of  the  unrestrained  wisdom 
and  conscience  of  the  delegates  chosen  by  the  people.  How  far 
away  from  the  present  practice  this  theory  is  need  hardly  be  de- 
scribed to  this  audience.  In  some  of  the  States  political  conven- 
tions are  made  up  almost  wholly  of  public  servants,  not  truly 
elected  by  the  people,  but  in  effect  appointed  by  the  lords  para- 
mount; and  those  delegates  who  are  not  office  holders  usually 
hope  to  be  such,  not  through  the  winning  force  of  high  character 
and  deserving  attainments,  but  by  favor  of  the  liege.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  such  an  assembly,  instead  of  being  the  free  expres- 
sions of  the  people,  are  really  the  lucubrations  of  the  lord  para- 
mount, and  when  sincere  at  all  are  the  more  dangerous  to  liber- 
ty because  of  the  care  that  i=  taken  to  make  them  conform  out- 
wardly to  a  shifting  public  opinion.  In  the  Republican  National 
convention  at  Philadelphia,  in  1900,  the  three  largest  States  had 
but  one  voice  each, — that  of  the  lord  jiaramount.  The  delegates 
from  those  States  represented  no  opinion,  and  the  service  could 
win  them  no  distinction,  because  they  were  merely  the  creatures 
of  the  suzerain.  Most  of  the  other  States  sent  free  men  who  up- 
set the  feudalities  aufl  spoke  for  public  o])ini()n.  Not  long  ago 
a  convention  was  held  in  another  State  where  a  candidate  for  a 


State  office,  who  was  not  the  choice  of  tlic  lord  paramount,  own- 
ed a  majority  of  the  dclcgfates;  owned  them  in  the  feudal  way 
because  he  had  chosen  them  to  be  elected  to  this  convention  and 
l^aiil  all  their  expenses.  The  lord  paramount  demanded  his  with- 
ilrawal;  the  candidate  pointed  to  his  delegates  and  refused  to 
yiekl.  Tlic  lord  paramount  thereupon  sent  his  liege-men  among 
the  delegates,  and  on  the  same  afternoon,  when  the  balloting 
was  about  to  begin,  the  once  defiant  candidate  announced  his  re- 
tirement, for  the  reason  that  his  friends  had  suddenly  deserted 
liim.  They  had  not  been  bought.  They  had  simply  yielded  to 
an  autocratic  authority  unrecognized  in  the  laws  of  the  country, 
but  sometimes  exercised  above  the  law.  In  another  case  the 
aspirant  for  a  high  office  in  the  State — an  able  man — had  worked 
long  and  hard  for  delegates,  and  for  two  ballots  their  votes  were 
held  together  under  the  lead  of  a  man  who  was  his  neighbor  and 
sworn  friend;  but  when  the  third  ballot  began,  the  lord  para- 
mount in  his  library  two  hundred  miles  away  telegraphed  to  this 
friend:  "I  think  you  had  better  go  to  Smith  on  this  ballot." 
The  whole  delegation,  including  the  bosom  friend,  obeyed,  and 
Smith  was  nominated.  This  was  not  leadership;  it  was  feudal- 
ism; and  the  candidate  was  beaten  at  the  election.  Again,  when 
a  prominent  member  of  a  legislature  died,  there  was  a  large 
hope,  born  of  the  fact  that  the  suzerain  had  just  been  deserted 
by  some  of  his  venal  followers,  that  he  would  learn  wisdom  and 
choose  able  and  honest  men  henceforth;  and  the  names  of  suit- 
able men  were  canvassed  among  the  people  and  in  the  news- 
papers. But  the  lord  paramount  settled  the  matter  disdainfully, 
as  becomes  a  lord  paramount,  by  choosing  a  wholly  unknown 
man  and  directing  his  liege-men  to  make  the  nomination  and 
afterwards  the  election.  New  York  City  is  in  the  hands  of  an 
aggregation  of  feudal  lords,  and  we  have  a  judicial  declaration 
from  Judge  Jerome  that  the  police  captains  in  the  crime  districts 
pay  the  Tammany  leaders  $18,000  for  each  appointment,  and 
receive  $25,000  a  year  thereafter  from  the  protected  criminals.  I 
have  seen  a  letter  from  an  over-lord  to  a  member  of  a  legisla- 
ture, reading  thus:  "I  do  not  want  you  to  vote  for  that  bill,  or 
any  bill  on  that  subject."  Whenever  a  feudal  candidate  claims 
that  a  certain  office  is  his  by  vested  right,  it  will  usually  follow 

8 


that  he  is  not  the  choice  cf  the  electoral  body,  and  that  he  will 
endeavor  to  attain  his  election  by  methods  which  ought,  by  their 
very  nature,  to  discredit  him.  In  Kentucky,  a  lord  paramount 
who  stole  the  governorship  was  assassinated  by  feudal  men  on 
the  other  side; — robl)ery  and  murder  go  often  together.  In  one 
State  a  bill,  a  perfectly  honest  and  proper  measure,  was  sent  to 
the  lord  paramount  with  the  request  that  it  be  presented  for  the 
consideration  of  the  legislature.  The  fact  that  it  concerned  a 
corporation  led  the  suzerain  to  say  that  it  could  be  got  through 
the  house  for  $40,000.  the  senate  for  $40,000  more,  and  it  would 
require  $20,000  for  the  men  near  the  Governor.  He  was  told 
to  withdraw  it,  when  he  sent  word  that  it  could  pass  both 
houses  for  $40,000.  but  it  must  take  its  chances  with  the  Gover- 
nor. He  received  no  reply.  Now,  in  that  case,  the  lord  para- 
mount clearly  transcended  the  ancient  feudal  law  which  re- 
strains the  over-lord  from  demanding  money  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  barons  and  council  except  for  three  causes;  and  his 
eldest  son  was  not  being  knighted,  his  eldest  daughter  was  not 
being  married,  and  he  himself  was  not  in  prison. 

The  country  has  not  forgotten  that  one  senator  from  the 
far  west  was  proved  to  have  expended  more  than  a  million  dol- 
lars in  the  direct  purchase  of  his  election.  After  being  once 
driven  from  his  seat,  he  has  returned,  and  Senator  Cushman  K 
Davis,  of  Minnesota,  said  of  him;  "They  say  that  one  of  our  latest 
accessions  is  worth  seventy-five  millions.  We  need  to  offset 
him  a  man  who  is  worth  more  than  that  in  a  better  currency." 

When  we  examine  the  character  of  the  feudal  vassals  we 
find  that  they  are  general!}'  men  who  fail  at  everything  thev  un- 
dertake on  their  own  account  and  are  then  invested  with  the 
sacred  office  of  government  because,  in  the  parlance  of  the  ma- 
chine, they  will  "take  orders."  A  young  woman  was  heard  to  say: 
"Father  has  been  a  great  shame  to  us,  but  as  soon  as  he  gets  out 
of  the  workhouse  this  time,  we  have  a  good  political  position 
for  him  where  he  wont  have  anything  to  do."  This  incident  is 
scarcely  an  exaggeration.  If  one  should  take  a  glance  at  the 
personnel  of  almost  any  large  political  office,  and  then,  for  the 
sake  of  comparison,  a  look  at  a  similar  number  of  employes,  say, 
in  one  of  our  large  steel  works,  he  would  ijcrccivc  tliat  under 


the  fciuial  system  the  political  standard  of  onicioncv  is  inovilahly 
lower  than  that  which  is  maintained  in  the  business  world. 

There  is  a  wide  ilitTerencebetween  aStateorp^anization  main- 
tained for  i^arty  supremac\-  anil  a  State  machine  maintained  for 
spoils.  In  New  York  the  Republican  party  has  a  powerful  or- 
p^anization.  It  is  not  abtn-e  repnxich;  its  leadership  has  not  al- 
ways been  the  best;  but  it  has  had  the  advanta<;e  of  tradition 
and  of  association  with  families  distinguished  for  i^^enius  and 
valor;  anil  it  has  therefore  been  a  source  of  stren<2^th  in  our  na- 
tional develoi)ment.  Whenever  New  York  is  called  upon  to 
supply  a  man  to  a  hiqh  office  in  the  nation  or  the  State,  she  usu- 
ally chooses  her  ablest  man, — and  strangely  enough,  her  ablest 
men  are  often  found  outside  the  party  organization.  Look  at 
her  record  for  only  the  short  period  of  President  McKinley's 
administration:  Ambassador  to  Great  Britain,  Joseph  H.  Choate, 
the  leader  of  the  American  bar;  Secretary  of  War,  Elihu  Root, 
a  distinguished  lawyer;  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Cornelius  N. 
Bliss;  Ambassador  to  France,  General  Horace  Porter;  Ambas- 
sador to  Germany,  Andrew  D.  White,  her  foremost  educator; 
Minister  to  Turkey,  Oscar  S.  Straus;  member  of  the  Spanish 
Peace  Commission,  Whitelaw  Reid;  Secretary  of  the  Spanish 
Peace  Commission,  Prof.  John  Bassett  Moore,  the  highest  au- 
thority on  international  law;  members  of  the  Hague  Peace 
Commission,  Seth  Low,  President  of  Columbia  University,  and 
Frederick  W.  Holls;  Assistant  Secretary  of  War,  Colonel  Wil- 
liam Gary  Sanger;  L''^nited  States  Senator,  Chauncey  M.  Depew; 
Commissioner  of  patents,  Charles  H.  Duell;  Governor  of  the 
State,  Theodore  Roosevelt;  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
the  same  Theodore  Roosevelt;  Governor  of  the  State  again, 
Benjamin  B.  Odell,  Jr.  Most  of  these  men  have  not  only  not 
been  identified  with  the  party  organization,  but  they  have  stren- 
uously antagonized  it,  notably  Mr.  Choate,  Mr.  Reid,  Mr.  Roose- 
velt, and  Mr.  Low.  They  are  all  leaders  in  intellectual  and  pub- 
lic life,  and  beyond  criticism  on  the  score  of  character  or  capac- 
ity; and  the  Republican  organization  assented — perhaps  reluct- 
antly sometimes — to  their  appointment,  to  the  lasting  glory  of 
the  commonwealth.  The  strongest  organization  man  on  the 
list.  Governor  Odell,  has  made  the  lord  paramount  stand  aghast, 

10 


while  the  State  applauds  and  the  nation  wonders  at  the  revela- 
tion that  practical  politics,  able  administration,  and  honest  man- 
hood fearlessly  exercised  against  dictation,  are  the  true  quali- 
ties of  good  government.  This  is  the  admirable  practice  in  New 
York.  In  Pennsylvania — and  one  who  has  never  voted,  and 
probably  never  shall  vote,  any  but  the  Republican  ticket  has  the 
right  to  draw  the  contrast — a  man  who  left  President  Lincoln's 
cabinet  by  request,  organized  a  machine  for  spoils  only,  and 
neither  the  standard  of  leadership  nor  the  principles  of  the  or- 
ganization have  since  been  greatly  elevated  beyond  the  first  pat- 
terns. In  ten  years  with  a  normal  Republican  majorit}^  of  nearly 
three  hundred  thousand,  the  State  ticket  has  twice  been  deserv- 
edly beaten.  Few  eminent  men  are  chosen  to  high  office  from 
Pennsylvania,  and feware  trained  to  attain  eminence.  A  man  who 
is  bold  enough  to  antagonise  the  party  organization  can  expect 
no  political  preferment  in  this  State.  Where  two  men  aspire 
to  a  distinguished  position  it  has  occurred  that  he  who  gives  the 
largest  check  to  the  mysterious,  potent,  and  unaudited  campaign 
fund  will  tower  above  the  other  like  Charlemagne  above  King 
Ofifa.  It  is  a  matter  of  public  record  that  our  feudal  lords,  call- 
ing all  men  to  know  by  these  presents,  have  executed  contracts 
in  solemn  phrase  construing  government  to  mean  the  private 
business  profit  of  the  parties  thereto.  In  a  recent  great  schism 
within  the  party,  one  revolted  faction  might  have  won  against 
the  entrenched  remainder — they  would  have  been  backed  by  the 
whole  moral  power  of  the  State — had  they  but  dared  to  stand 
for  principles  and  true  men,  forsaking  spoils.  We  must  remem- 
ber that  government,  being  a  matter  of  form,  is.  in  the  best  sense, 
a  machine,  and  it  can  never  be  a  perfect  machine  until  it  shall 
preserve  the  laws  and  register  the  decrees  of  the  people.  In  a 
city  in  tiiis  worst  of  the  feudal  States  recently  there  were  27,000 
fraudulent  votes  deposited  at  one  election.  The  outraged  com- 
monwealth derives  but  meagre  satisfaction  from  seeing  two  ob- 
scure men  sent  to  the  penitentiary  who  had  no  possible  interest 
in  the  effect  of  their  crime  save  their  hire.  A  few  weeks  ago  sixty- 
four  election  officers  in  the  same  city  were  indicted  for  receiving 
fraudulent  votes.  It  is  no  uiteinperate  or  extravagant  use  of 
language  to  declare  that  in  a  Republic,  the  very  life-blood  where- 

11 


of  flows  from  a  free  ami  pure  l)allot,  the  man  who  instigates  the 
illegal  casting  of  a  single  vote,  or  the  false  record  of  one  legally 
cast,  is  a  political  anarchist  who  ought  to  be  put  to  death.  A 
single  vote  corrupted  may  strike  down  free  government.  Both 
parties  in  Pennsylvania  have  pledged  themselves  emphatically  to 
enact  a  secure  ballot  law.  With  such  complete  agreement  its 
passage  should  be  prompt  and  unanimous.  But  the  tergiversa- 
tion of  the  leaders  in  these  past  few  weeks  has  clearly  shown  that 
it  is  not  the  imperative  design  of  either  party  to  re(iuire  that  the 
vote  shall  be  lawfully  cast  and  honestly  counted.  Hence  some 
people  are  saying  that  that  tremendous  majority  will  again  roll 
backward  like  a  wave  of  retribution.  If  it  do,  the  calamity  will 
not  be  without  its  palliation  if  it  will  finally  overwhelm  those  feud- 
al lords  of  both  parties  who  in  these  years  of  spoil  have  sought 
their  own  aggrandizement  against  the  public  good;  given  us  a 
civil  service  without  distinction;  violated  every  solemn  public 
promise;  impaired  the  high  honor  of  the  State;  and  intro- 
duced faction  and  disorder,  and  mutually  the  persuasion  of 
legislative  votes,  as  legitimate  principles  of  government. 

These  examples  of  modern  feudalism  are  chosen  from  a 
great  many  preserved  for  reference,  that  have  filled  the  hearts 
of  honest  men  with  a  sense  of  wrong.  But  it  would  be  an  in- 
iquitous perversion  of  fact  to  attempt  to  persuade  you  that  our 
whole  political  fabric  is  blighted  by  these  corrupt  practises.  Our 
national  government  is  nearly  free  from  stain  in  all  its  parts. 
Why?  Because  the  laws  place  the  executive  powers  in  re- 
sponsible hands  and  leave  no  opportunity  for  the  feudal  lord  to 
usurp  control.  So  it  is  likewise  in  many  States  and  cities.  In 
our  own  city  of  Pittsburgh,  while  there  are  many  feudal  evils  to 
redress,  and  some  feudal  men  to  dispossess,  yet  in  the  protection 
of  life,  the  safeguard  of  property,  the  preservation  of  public 
order,  and  the  restraint  of  active  criminal  vice,  Pittsburgh  is  now, 
as  she  has  long  been,  the  best  governed  city  in  the  world.  There 
are  thousands  of  good  men  in  political  positions,  many  of  them  in 
this  city,  many  of  them  in  this  State,  and  all  through  this  coun- 
try, and  they  are  learning  more  and  more  that  public  approba- 
tion and  ultimate  success  are  sure  to  be  their  rewards  when  they 
resent  dictation,  cultivate  individuality,  and  initiate  for     them- 

12 


selves.  Best  of  all  the  most  arrogant  lord  paramount  in  Ameri- 
ca has  never  dared  to  put  his  hand  on  the  bench,  and  no  breath 
of  suspicion  has  ever  touched  the  pure  administration  of  our 
laws. 

You  have  recently  read  in  your  histories  how  nations  rise 
like  ships  at  sea,  and  go  forward  in  power  and  majesty,  and  then, 
like  a  ship  at  sea.  they  go  down  below  the  horizon,  and  are  seen 
no  more.  What  is  the  cause  of  that?  The  nation  is  not  a  herd, 
moving  with  the  merely  stupid  instinct  of  animal  life  to  the  des- 
tiny of  brutes;  but  it  is  a  highly  sensitive  mass,  which  makes  a 
quick  response  always  to  the  spur  of  individual  thought  and  ac- 
tion; and  as  the  predominant  individuality  is  bigoted  and  cruel, 
or  enlightened  and  humane,  so  will  the  nation  be  accordingly. 
Every  man,  every  woman,  is  a  unit  in  this  sensitive  mass.  You 
may  think  your  station  is  an  insignificant  one.  It  is  not.  What- 
ever you  do  that  is  good  adds  to  the  sum  of  light.  Whatever 
you  do  that  is  ill  adds  to  the  sum  of  darkness.  If  you  do  noth- 
ing you  add  to  the  waste  of  energy.  And  w^ith  the  good  and 
the  ill  of  the  units  in  the  mass,  the  mass  itself  is  good  or  ill,  and 
the  sum  total  brings  the  nation  to  life  or  to  death.  That  is  what 
those  pages  in  your  history  mean.  It  has  been  the  fortune  of 
these  perished  nations  to  spread  their  good  qualities  among  other 
peoples,  while  they  themselves  chose  to  die  in  their  own  vices. 
And  then  other  nations  rise  on  their  discarded  virtues.  It  was 
so  with  Egypt  and  Assyria.  Greece  achieved  her  imperishable 
glories  in  art  and  literature  and  war  while  her  men  held  the  hon- 
or of  the  state  dearest  in  their  hearts;  and  when  they  forgot  that, 
Sparta  fell,  and  Athens,  and  Sparta  again,  and  then  Greece  her- 
self. Imperial  Rome  held  dominion  over  nearly  the  whole  world 
while  she  steadfastly  cherished  the  teachings  of  Lucius  that  true 
manhood  was  the  best  jewel  of  Rome;  but  when  she  succumbed 
to  luxury  and  vice,  the  Pretorian  Guard  snatched  away  her  au- 
thority, degenerated  into  professional  politicians,  and  sold  the 
government  to  the  highest  bidder.  And  Emerson  declares  that 
the  northern  barbarians  who  overran  her  territory  arrived  not 
a  day  too  soon.  In  our  times,  England,  with  the  best  civil  ser- 
vice, has  done  more  to  si)read  lil)crty  over  the  uttermost  world 
tlnn  any  other  nation.     Mankind  could  not  look  with  equanim- 

13 


ity  upon  her  decay,  and  if  that  should  be  threatened,  we  would 
bchoUl  the  daug^hter  spreading  her  mantle  over  the  drooping 
mother,  to  bid  the  frowning  world  pass  on.  In  the  natural  ex- 
pansion of  this  country  it  is  highly  probably  that  we  shall  accjuire 
Canada.  Central  America,  and  Mexico.  But  no  burden  will  be 
too  heavy  so  long  as  America  guards  the  State.  When  she  hands 
the  govermnent  over  to  her  Pretorian  Cniard,  decay  must  come 
swift  and  sure. 

When  Cromwell  was  Protector,  he  directed  the  learned  pro- 
fessors of  the  universities  to  mark  the  rising  youth  of  England 
and  commend  to  his  attention  such  as  they  deemed  apt  for  pub- 
lic station:  and  one  of  his  contemporaries  said:  "If  there  was  a 
man  in  England  who  excelled  in  any  faculty  or  science,  the  Pro- 
tector would  tind  him  out,  and  reward  him  according  to  his  mer- 
it." One  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  great  Puritan's  death 
Yale  College  was  founded  in  this  country  by  Cromwell's  polit- 
ical descendants  in  order  that  youth,  instructed  in  the  arts  and 
sciences,  "through  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  may  be  fitted 
for  public  employment  in  Church  and  civil  state."  Thus,  our 
highest  and  oldest  traditions  demand  an  educated  and  conscien- 
tious civil  service. 

The  feudal  system  in  America  must  be  destroyed  before 
good  government  can  be  secured;  for  feudalism  and  good  gov- 
ernment are  essentially  antagonistic.  This  cannot  be  attained 
by  spasmodic  and  hysterical  flocking  to  inexperienced  "reform" 
candidates.  It  is  the  system  itself  that  has  grown  to  be  bad, — 
not  necessarily  the  men.  The  present  material  is  good  enough 
if  constitutional  checks  can  be  devised  to  restrain  those  who  are 
in  control.  The  true  way  of  reform  would  be  to  develop  an  en- 
lightened and  intelligent  public  conscience  that  would  quicken 
all  political  deliberations:  to  amend  municipal  charters,  not  by 
persuading  the  votes  of  venal  legislators,  but  as  a  response  to 
a  just  public  demand  upon  the  legislature,  so  that  full  respon- 
sibility will  rest  in  ofificial  hands;  to  destroy  the  lords  paramount 
by  putting  the  powers  which  they  illegally  exercise  in  the  hands 
of  an  elected  public  servant;  to  choose  such  capable  men  to  do 
the  public  business  as  are  now  chosen  for  the  discharge  of  pri- 
vate interests;  to  exhort  men  in  commerce  and  men  in  corpora- 

14 


tions  to  cease  effacing  their  rights  as  citizens  in  the  fear  of  of- 
fending the  feudal  barons,  and  overcome  their  present  dread 
that  active  participation  in  pubhc  affairs  is  inimical  to  their  pri- 
vate prosperity;  to  encourage  an  independent  and  fearless  news- 
paper press  to  continue  without  malice  to  expose  public  wrongs 
and  discomfit  unfit  men;  and  to  impress  upon  the  entire  body 
of  citizens  the  obligation  to  take  part  in  all  elections,  holding 
delegates  and  others  enjoying  office  to  a  strict  recognition  that 
they  are  not  the  masters  but  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
"The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars,  but  in  ourselves  that 
we  are  underlings."  One  fearless  man  has  more  power  to  stir 
the  public  conscience  to  civic  duty  than  a  whole  machine  to  stifle 
it  by  clamor  and  usurpation.  The  way  to  accomplish  essential 
reforms  is  to  join  that  party  which  is  most  congenial  to  your  own 
political  ideals,  and  then  work  within  its  organization  until  your 
voice  is  heard  and  your  influence  is  felt.  Independent  move- 
ments are  usually  nothing  more  than  a  colossal  waste  of  energy. 
You  cannot  always  have  your  way,  or  your  platform,  or  your 
candidate;  and  in  that  case  you  must  compromise.  Com- 
promise is  the  very  essence  of  politics,  but  it  must  be  based  upon 
honesty  and  expediency,  and  that  is  what  you  are  in  the  organi- 
zation to  demand.  If  there  is  no  organization,  no  club,  near  you, 
organize  one  among  your  neighbors.  You  are  a  sovereign  if 
you  will  but  exercise  your  prerogatives.  What  the  bosses  most 
dread  is  activity  in  the  mass.  Therefore,  be  active.  Then,  when 
you  see  signs  of  dishonesty  or  corruption,  denounce  it  publicly, 
but  don't  leave  the  party.  The  party  is  like  a  grand  army.  At 
its  head  is  the  National  Committee,  having  charge  of  the  Presi- 
dential cam])aign  and  the  maintenance  of  the  organization  per- 
manently. Then  there  is  a  State  Committee  in  each  common- 
wealth, and  under  that  the  county  and  city  and  township  com- 
mittees. To  fight  against  such  a  machine  would  l)e  hopeless. 
All  reforms  must  be  sf)ught  within  party  lines.  If  there  are  evil 
men  in  contrcji,  their  first  wish  is  to  get  you  out.  Stay  in,  and 
get  them  out.  .Aim  to  secure  a  civil  service,  as  Washington  de- 
signed it,  based  up(jn  character  and  eflicicncy,  covering  the 
whole  personnel  of  the  subordinate  places,  regardless  of  party 
affiliations,  to  be  undisturbed  by  any  election;  and  the  cruelty 

15 


and  corruption  of  the  spoils  system  will  disappear.  The  exec- 
utive forces  of  government  in  State  and  city  would  then,  like 
those  of  the  National  governniont,  he  representative  of  tlie  peo- 
ple. W'luMi  the  lord  paramount  t^oes.  all  will  go;  for  bribery, 
usuri>ation,  false  l)allots,  vassal  conventions,  corruption,  venal- 
ity, brutality,  violence,  even  assassination,  are  the  sure  fruits  of 
political  feudalism.  Politics  is  govermnent.  Politics  deprived  of 
its  spoils  would  very  nearly  meet  the  highest  aspirations  of  man- 
kind. Then  we  shall  see  in  place  of  bosses,  leaders,  whom  we 
can  follow  with  fidelity  and  honor,  who  will  have  no  hungry 
army  to  feed,  who  will  work  for  the  glory  of  the  Republic,  and 
not  for  its  spoils.  There  is  a  victory  greater  than  Marston  Moor 
or  Yorktown  for  that  man  who  will  smite  this  feudalism  to  death. 
[Prolonged  Applause.] 


16 


■ 


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